Federal Environment Agency: Increase Diesel Price By 70 Cents

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Federal Environment Agency: Increase Diesel Price By 70 Cents
Federal Environment Agency: Increase Diesel Price By 70 Cents

Video: Federal Environment Agency: Increase Diesel Price By 70 Cents

Video: Federal Environment Agency: Increase Diesel Price By 70 Cents
Video: EPRA gazettes a 3 shilling and 57 cents increase in the price of super petrol 2024, March
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To achieve the climate targets, the Federal Environment Agency is calling for measures such as a speed limit and an increase in the price of diesel. Criticism comes from the Federal Ministry of Transport.

The UBA is in favor of speed 120 on motorways, higher taxes, especially on diesel, an end to the commuter flat-rate and a higher truck toll: the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has recommended drastic cuts in order to achieve the German climate targets in traffic.

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The authority published a corresponding position paper on Thursday, which is, however, already six months old = ". Accordingly, the authority recommends, among other things, increasing the taxes on diesel by more than 70 cents per liter by 2030. Gasoline would have to be about 47 cents more expensive. First the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" quoted from the paper.

Criticism from the Minister of Transport

There was criticism from the transport minister. "Panic the citizens again with waivers, bans and increases in prices à la Federal Environment Agency, is the wrong approach," said Andreas Scheuer (CSU). «We are currently in the middle of the concrete implementation of the balanced climate package. That is decided together - and nothing else."

Little has been done in terms of climate protection in traffic since 1990 - cars use less fuel today, but people drive more. The UBA is therefore calling for a general speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on motorways.

Tax privileges for company cars, for example, should be abolished and the commuter allowance abolished. The timing of the publication is remarkable: the grand coalition has just decided to increase the commuter allowance from the 21st kilometer to compensate for the fact that a CO2 price is supposed to make diesel and gasoline more expensive.

Compensate for social hardship

CO2 continues to rise. Photo: dpa
CO2 continues to rise. Photo: dpa

According to UBA calculations, this CO2 price could rise to 205 euros per ton in the form of an energy tax. It is important to compensate for social hardship. The state could distribute income from energy taxes to citizens. However, the coalition has chosen a different model: it does not want to increase energy taxes at all, but rather introduce a trade in pollution certificates, in which companies that sell fuel in Germany participate. The entry price of the certificates should be only 10 euros in 2021, which should make gasoline more expensive by around 3 cents - climate activists consider this to be far too little.

The direct repayment to the citizens, which Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) wanted, could not be enforced in the climate package. "In principle, the measures mentioned in the UBA study are suitable for achieving the climate targets in the transport sector," said a spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment. "The proposed measures are basically nothing new." If the climate package - which, in addition to a moderate CO price, primarily relies on subsidy measures - is not enough, adjustments must be made, according to the new climate protection law.

Truck tolls are also set to rise

From the perspective of the Federal Environment Agency, the toll for trucks would also have to rise sharply. The underlying goal is to increasingly transport goods by rail instead of road. Climate-friendly transport alternatives would have to be promoted more strongly than before. Among other things, the UBA proposes a quota for new electric cars. It would therefore make sense to oblige manufacturers to bring a 70 percent share of electric cars onto the market in 2030.

The report confirms their criticism of the federal government's climate package. "The current UBA report clearly underlines the need for fundamental improvements to the climate package," said Benjamin Stephan from Greenpeace. Jens Hilgenberg from BUND said that the UBA's plans coincided “in large parts” with the positions of its organization.

The paper, which collects many well-known demands from the Federal Environment Agency, was drawn up in June when the federal government was preparing its climate package. The "Climate Protection Program 2030" has now been adopted, but the Federal Council and Federal Council's mediation committee is still looking for compromises on certain plans such as the commuter allowance.

Government climate goals

Germany wants to reduce its emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. According to the Federal Environment Agency, emissions in the transport sector should fall by 40 to 42 percent. If one takes into account the measures that have already been decided - for example cheaper train tickets for long-distance transport - the climate-damaging emissions would be well above this value in 2030.

The ADAC criticized the proposals, they completely missed the realities of life for many people. FDP parliamentary group vice-president Frank Sitta said the demands were a “foretaste of what will happen to the citizens” - because the coalition's climate package will fail, people will be “harassed with such radical measures” in the future. The CSU transport politician Ulrich Lange, however, emphasized: "A speed limit and drastic energy tax increases are just as little part of the climate protection program as the abolition of the commuter allowance." It seems to be a «contribution to the discussion» from the summer. (SP-X)

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